


A Day in the Life of This Nick Wilde

by Doug48



Series: Zoo 1.2 [3]
Category: Zootopia (2016)
Genre: Drama, Gen, No Smut, Police
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-04-21
Updated: 2019-04-21
Packaged: 2020-01-23 15:31:37
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,935
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18552616
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Doug48/pseuds/Doug48
Summary: So, what was he doing before he met Judy? Here's another day...





	A Day in the Life of This Nick Wilde

‘What is that noise?’ That’s my first thought. Then my second thought, ‘what time is it?’

“Right, time to get up,” I mutter to myself. I am on my back now, so I put my paws down, rotate around, and put my feet on the floor. I hit the alarm, rub my eyes, and stare at the clock.

It’s 2 PM, and my shift starts in three hours. I put on some exercise clothes, and then I’m ready to start another day.

By 2:30 PM, I’m out the door and then outside the building where I sleep. Where many of us live and sleep, actually, but I get a room to myself. Rank has its privileges, after all. Most of the others in my building have to share living space with at least one other mammal. At least we are all males and predators in my building. There are prey mammals here as well, but not as many, and females have separate dormitories. Same goes for smaller mammals like squirrels and rodents, who live above or below us. Grandfather has always tried to make the best use of all available space. 

The next thing to do is get some exercise, so I head toward the gym. It’s not crowded at this time of day, so I nod, chin down, to the attendant and get on one of the treadmills for my morning run. I could run laps around the courtyard, but then I would have to dodge mammals walking and I would rather not.

After 30 minutes, it’s time for my next activity, which is either sparring or shooting because I’m not doing any training today. Nobody want to spar with me, so I go to the range and set it for ‘combat’, which means I don’t know what the target will be. Shoot the bad guys, and score points. Shoot civilians, and lose more than you gain. Shoot a cop and have to start over. I’ve put thousands of rounds downrange, and rarely made a mistake. It happens to everyone, of course; that’s why we practice.

At 5 PM, it’s time for a work shift, and I've already showered and eaten. One good thing about this shift is that there is no line for showers; one bad thing is that dinner starts at 5, so it’s cold food or nothing before I report in. Other than that, I like this schedule and at least I always get a hot meal when everyone else is having breakfast, and before I go to bed.

“Good afternoon Nick,” the deputy greets me. He puts his muzzle up.

“Tom,” I replied, lowering my own muzzle. I suppose prey mammals would wave or bump fist or something, but we’re predators, and this is Fox’s follow, not Zootopia, so we show our necks to those with higher social rank.

I smile at Mary, who is finishing some report or other. Another difference here, we smile and show teeth. Nobody does that is Zootopia. She also puts her muzzle up in greeting.

“Anything new since yesterday?” I ask, and get only a headshake. That’s good. I was hoping for some peace and quiet so I can work on my correspondence at my desk. We’ve all got friends in the city, and we don’t get to see them enough, so I write emails and it’s important to make each one unique. This takes time because I’ve never been a great typist or writer.

Some hours later, I hear the phone ring, but Tom, the bobcat deputy, picks it up. I can’t hear what’s being said, but I can see his ears perk up. If he were closer, I’m sure I would smell excitement. Something is up.

I get up and walk over as he finishes the call and he fills me in. “Got a robbery over at the Pig. Some dumb dumb with a mask stuck a gun in the managers muzzle and got away with a couple hundred bucks. Escaped on foot.”

“Show me,” I order, and he pulls up the video.

“Yeah, there he is.” We use the camera to follow him to one of the wolf dormitories, before he goes in. We could have started by tracking him on foot, but this was simpler and he might be wearing some sort of common scent mask.

“What the hell? Must be new here,” Tom says.

We take a radio car to the Pig, a grocery store, I get the scent, and then head over to the dorm on foot. It’s a wolf, and not a particularly smart one. Grabbed the money and went straight home. Tom brings the car.

I follow the trail inside to the door of the right room, and text the location to Tom, so he can wait outside, and downstairs. Sometimes they run down the fire escape, and that means somebody has to watch the window. Wolves are larger than either of us and this is a wolf occupied building, but Tom and I have the equipment and training for this sort of thing. The wolves are all renters in this building.

I wait a few minutes outside the door to make sure Tom is in position, and then I knock, standing on the ledge which is required beside every door. 

“Open up. This is Nick Wilde,” I tell them. And then I add “Police,” as an afterthought. One of the occupants opens the door to prevent me from breaking it with the shotgun on my back. I never break a door unless I have to, and mammals know that, so they usually open the door after I announce myself.

“What’s up, ah, Nick?” The wolf at the door says, before putting his muzzle up and trying to be casual. He's about twenty and not the thief, but he clearly knows why I’m here. I can smell the trail going in, and I’m sure he knows that, too.

“Thief in there,” I tell him, motioning with my muzzle. I gesture him away from the door with my right paw, and I go in without drawing a weapon. I don’t need a warrant because I followed the trail. In fact, I rarely need a warrant for anything.

“What's your name?” I ask as I pass the young wolf. It’s always good to keep things civilized, and he already knows who I am.

“Lonnie,” he says, and he smells nervous. His eyes are darting around the room. 

I can see why he’s nervous. They’ve been smoking happy weed and drinking. I’d rather the young ones like this didn’t do that sort of thing, but they like to do it for relaxation. Problem is they’re too young for this, so it’s forbidden. I suppose I could talk to Grandfather about the age limit? I’m not sure how the other council members feel about it, however.

“I don’t care about what you’re drinking and smoking this evening,“ I tell him, gesturing to the drugs and booze by the sofa. There are two other wolves here, and the one on the left is the thief.

“You. Come with me,” I tell him. My eyes are on him, but I’m tracking his friends as well.

“Going to make me?” He asks, as his friends back away from him. We’re all canines, so we can all smell each other. They know I’m determined, but not particularly excited. I can smell their uncertainty and the effects of the alcohol and the weeds. If we fought, they’d get hurt, and they don’t know what else might happen.

“Yes,” I reply and draw my pain stick. I don’t like to use paw cuffs, myself, especially on larger predators. Not much point, and you have to subdue them before you can put the cuffs on anyway. This one sees the stick, sees his friends won’t support him, and so he submits by putting his muzzle up more than the usual ‘greeting’ amount. He’s not as dumb as I had thought.

I can smell his sincerity, so I put away the stick and text Tom to join me here. He’ll get the money and talk to the roommates. Probably lecture them about underage drinking, but he won’t confiscate the stash. The other two wolves helped me by not fighting, so I’ll be nice and tell Tom not to see some things.

Half an hour later, we take the thief back to the station and lock him up. The money goes back to the owner of the Pig, of course, and there is some paperwork to fill out. The Pig guy is not happy because he thought the wolf had stolen more money, but that was all the thief had, so that’s what we returned. Pig can complain if he likes, but my boss is the Grandfather, and I doubt the Pig will get anywhere.

I spend the rest of my shift in relative quiet. I finish my emails. Tom and I take turns on patrol, and then we do some practice shooting and various exercises. We keep our armor on at all times so we'll be more comfortable with it. We are smaller than most criminals so we need the advantages armor and practice give us.

My relief arrives at 5 AM, and now I can go have breakfast. My replacement is a lioness, and she gives me the usual line after putting her muzzle up. “Go home before I eat you,” and I reply in the usual way. “Bad kitty!” Today she sighs at me, so I pause and look at her.

“I’m going to miss seeing you in the office, foxy,” she says. 

“Hey, don’t get all weepy. I’ll be around. Maybe I’ll rob a grocery store and you guys can try to bust me?”

“Get out of here!” She replies, but she's smiling now. 

 

I’m sitting in the mess hall when Finn joins me. 

“Nick. Breaks my heart to see you depressed like this again,” he says, amused. 

“What are you talking about?” I ask, genuinely confused.

“Looking droopy,” he replies, gesturing at my ears.

“I’m just tired.”

“Doing the cop thing and doing jobs for Grandfather?” He asks. Grandfather can, in theory, call on any of us at any time for any reason, and often has me running the kind of errands in the city that require my somewhat unique skills. Skills that he gave me, in fact, for just that reason. 

“Just the cop thing,” I reply. “I’ve got something for Grandfather in Zootop later this week, but I wasn’t busy, so I filled in for a few days while Sherriff Carter was recovering from knee surgery.”

“Whatever. Grab a nap for a few hours, and then meet me at my van? Around 10 or 11 maybe?” Finn is looking and smelling very eager, so he must have some scheme going. Something unofficial because I know he doesn’t need my help with Lionheart. No, this must be something else.

“Fine, fine,” I tell him, so he gets up and walks away.

I head back to my room, set the alarm, and go to sleep.

 

Several hours later, I’m riding into Zootopia with Finn in his van. I still don’t really understand why he painted it up this way. I had had the impression that he wouldn’t want to be noticed, but there is no point telling him how to do his job. If I did, he might start in on me about his theories about criminal justice again. 

“Where are we going?” I ask. “And why are you dressed like an elephant?”

“You’ll see. Got a party you’re going to just love!”

**Author's Note:**

> I've had this one for a year or so, but there are several versions based on points of view and I wasn't sure which one to use. Also, I've been distracted working on my Safehold stuff recently. However, I've found that I like writing in the Zootopia AU more than any other.


End file.
